Tarantino Sues Gawker Over Script Leak

It’s a been a tumultuous month for director Quentin Tarantino and his script “The Hateful Eight”. It is a project that seems to be destined for infamy and Hollywood legend. Last week it was revealed that someone had leaked an early version of the script that he had given to a select group of actors. At the time, it was only circulating amongst Hollywood agents and insiders, but now thanks to an anonymous uploader the world has been given access to it.

The script was then summarized and evaluated by The Wrap, however, they were spared the ire of Quentin by not providing a source or location for the actual script. Instead it was Gawker who posted an article detailing how people could get their hands on it. I won’t link to that article here, but you can easily find it if you look for “Here is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script.”

The Hollywood Reporter than learned today that Quentin’s lawyers had filed a lawsuit against Gawker. The lawsuit alleges that Gawker is trying to profit from the leaked script and by stating that “here it is” they are taking responsibility for leaking it out. It’s a tricky legal area that smarter men than me are going to have to sort through. Here is how the complaint is worded in the lawsuit:

Their headline boasts… ‘Here,’ not someplace else, but ‘Here’ on the Gawker website. The article then contains multiple direct links for downloading the entire Screenplay through a conveniently anonymous URL by simply clicking button-links on the Gawker page, and brazenly encourages Gawker visitors to read the Screenplay illegally with the invitation to ‘Enjoy!’ it.

These are the kind of cases that can shape an industry. If Tarantino wins this suit against Gawker it can change how entertainment websites distribute and handle information. It’ll be interesting to watch this unfold and to see which side the law falls on.